Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners custom vinyl

Does anyonr know if the custom vinyl eggshell white is high gloss. It doesnt say but in the vinyl gallery there are HG white speakers.

I just checked the custom vinyl shop and it only says eggshell white. However, in a custom wood finish there is an option for high gloss eggshell white.

i may have to go with wood then. Although the m22s would cost over 800 bucks then. I just hope there worth it

Don't forget, you can get the "paintable" option as well, from the custom shop, if you want to do a specific finish yourself.

thats an idea i didnt think of. I just bought a new tv stand and coffee tables in a mocha color so i thought glossy white speakers would look nice next to that

Seems a shame to get all that real wood and then cover it in something that doesn't show the grain. But that's just me.

I believe the 'paintable' speakers are bare MDF. Not positive on this but that's what it looks like on the store page.

Oh, I'm talking about getting HG white or piano black in the VaSSallo shop. Or the orange or blue audiobytes, for that matter. Which are just plain awesome.

Until you mentioned it, Ken, I didn't know they had other high gloss colours in the Vassalo finish besides piano black. You're right, it is a shame to paint an opaque finish over real wood, to me it kind of defeats the purpose(seeing the woodgrain).

I fully agree, but one reason they may do that is a gloss finish requires a very smooth surface. MDF takes some effort to smooth, where many hard woods are easy to smooth and thus take less work to make a piano finish.

That could be true, although most of the MDF I've seen in the box stores (either 1" or 3/4" x 4' x 8') seem to have an extremely smooth surface on them. It would need to be sealed with a fast drying primer of some kind to seal it first though, because MDF is like a really hard sponge, it soaks up a lot of paint unless it's sealed properly.

Covering up the wood grain would suck. Maybe ill just go with a lightly stained pine or oak. i just want a nice contrast between the furniture and speakers.

You could just go with a basic vinyl finish and paint it any color you want. All you need to do is scuff it up a bit with some 220 grit sandpaper and spray paint it with a good enamel paint.

To come full circle, if they have the color you want in vinyl I don't see why they could not do high gloss on it.

Joe are you serious? Who in their right mind would buy a new set of nice speakers and then put sandpaper to the vinyl covering(?) then paint them?

Brotha, that's crazy talk right there.

Im actually liking the natural maple thats shown in the gallery. With semi gloss it would work out cheaper then high gloss white anyway.

What Joe said, could actually work if you chose one of the base finishes(Boston Ch, Black etc) because this vinyl comes already bonded to the sheets of MDF that Axiom uses, if I'm correct. If someone really wanted another colour, you could spray paint over top of this as long as the surface was lightly sanded to help the paint adhere better. It is a lot of bother to go through, but that's up to the individual to decide if that's something they want to do. Might be better to ask Axiom a few questions, maybe they can suggest something.

You can order finish samples from Axiom prior to ordering if you're not quite sure what you want.

These finishes arent done over a veneer. Its straight onto the MDF. Its also pretty easy (relative to something such as plywood) to get a good finish like this over MDF because it is already very smooth and there are no natural deviations to the surface such as with a real wood. The HG white is simply like a white piano finish. The speakers look pretty slick in HG white but its definetly not a look for everyone. or every decor.

Well, funny story, i just did that. But my PSB towers are a little long in the tooth and i was tired of the black ash vinyl finish. I veneered the B&W sub as well, and its teeth were not so old. Now they are piano black and hand-rubbed mahogany real wood veneer. I like them much better now and the WAF went way up. So, in short, it can be done. But you better plan ahead.
Sanding and painting perfectly good speakers

As far as I know, they are done over a wood veneer--I think Amie talked about it awhile back when they were doing the blue or the orange Audiobytes for a photo shoot. That was probably in the shout box, so it's lost in the mists of time...

Charles, I might have asked you before, but did you clearcoat the veneer on the sub or is it an oil finish?

The sub is the only mahogany that I applied lacquer to and polished to a relative shine. The towers are still in hand-rubbed, no lacquer finish. (The black has about 8 layers of lacquer but is due for one last 4000 grit rub and buff to increase the reflection from about 5 feet to...I don't know what.) Honestly, I like the soft natural finish of the unpolished veneers better at this point. I like the contrast of piano black gloss to flat mahogany. If you want a comparison to help in your decision I can send you close ups of each for comparison (if it helps?).

edit: I don't know if you were asking this, but I stained the raw veneer with water based stain before lacquer, but after sealing.

Perhaps for the blue and orange ones they do it over the veneer but they definetly dont do it with the piano black and HG white. I have the M3's in HG white... and piano black is the same type of finish.. only black.

Both look great, clearcoating is personal preference I guess. You could always use a satin finish on the PSB cabinets too, if you wanted to protect them a little better without too much shine.

re. Charles HT

That's gotta be cheaper than paying for the upgraded finish.

I wanted to get stands for the m22s but i heard the axiom ones arnt to stable. Can anyone recommend a brand that would be better. I got a 2 year old son so i gotta find ones that are not gonna fall over. I also need rubber fet cause i got hard wood floors.

A two year old? hmmm....have you considered glueing the stands to the floor? Seriously, the best thing to do is find a stand with the widest pitch on the bottom to reduce the possibilities of toppling. Extra weight in the base helps but the larger footprint would help more, I think.

Well instead of stands i was thinking about useing something like this. My girlfriend wanted them so they could serve double duty.

Just remember that the QS-series have down-firing woofers, so you'll still need to assemble a little something...

Given the difficulty, danger, and aesthetics, consider the M50. For the price of dangerous stands - come on, top heavy and shiny plus 2-year old equals loud crash and cursing - you get an integrated look that is not prone to falling.

OOORRrrrr....he could get the M22 and use an M80 as a stand.

True. Or just get an ep800 to riase the M22 high enough the little tyke can not reach it.

The M50s'll go over as well. You need outriggers. My M80s won't go over, mainly because they're stuffed in between bookshelves and stuff.

No, no, no, you get M60s as stands, then add the M22s....a very good combo .

My M50's have served me well with a 5yo, 3yo, & 18 month old! That was one of the reasons I went with those vs the M22's.
Another thing to considered is with the M22's on stands, it could actually fall on my child vs a tower speaker with a lot of it's weight already sitting on the floor.

Yep. Stands are dangerous.

seems like everyone thinks kids and stands dont go good together. Any suggestions on were to get out riggers for towers then.

Try these maybe ,but personally if you are able to, I'd make your own if you're handy or if you know someone who is.

I have a stack of spare granite outside. I'm tempted to build a base from 3cm granite. Be hard to move though.

You Must do it!

The only hold up is I would need to invest in diamond drill bits and saw blades to cut it, and polish it. Hate to do that, and waste the granite, if does not look great at the end. A basic outrigger is just so easy/cheap to make by comparison.

You could rent a ceramic saw if you keep the cuts straight. Masonry bits should be able to drill through it with a hammer drill. Personally I'd just find some nice hardwood and make a full base as opposed to outriggers, it would add some weight to the base as well as look nicer imho.

Can't argue with that.